Andy Romanoff at AbelCine

There was much ado at Abel at NAB. New name: AbelCine. A new face: Andy Romanoff — respected guru whose eclectic and distinguished resumé includes cinematographer, Louma crane pioneer, remote head company owner, and Panavision technical marketing. Andy has always been on the Film and Digital Times short list for information and explanations.

How it all began…Once upon a time, in 1976, Andy found himself in the south of France, working on “Riviera ’76,” a show put on by same organizers who did Woodstock. He saw a camera on the end of a long pole, panning, tilting and even pointing straight down. The arm went up, floated into the audience, and rotated. “I have to bring this to America,” Andy thought. It was one of the first outings for the Louma Crane, designed and developed by Jean-Marie Lavalou and Alain Masseron with David Samuelson.

Andy is now at AbelCine, where he will work on industry relations and business development. His main technology focus will be Vision Research’s Phantom camera lineup, and the Phantom 65 in particular. That’s Andy above, left, holding a 65mm sensor from the Phantom. In addition to showing the Phantom 65 camera’s high speed capabilities, Andy showed us the Phantom 65-Z3D — a modular 3D rig for the Phantom that puts two 35mm format images side by side on one 65mm frame. Demo takes from Doug Trumbull’s recent 65-Z3D shoot was playing next to the camera and assortment of lenses.

Andy is an associate member of the American Society of Cinematographers, a member of Local 600 International Cinematographers Guild, and member of the Society of Operating Cameramen. In 2008, he was honored with the SOC Distinguished Service Award, and in 2010 received the Kodak Award at the Emerging Cinematographers Awards for mentoring young cinematographers. Andy is a member of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, and currently serves on the Academy’s Scientific and Technical awards committee.

Andy Romanoff, left. Moe Shore, right.

“Andy is known and well respected industry wide. He’s been on all sides of this business, from technical to entrepreneurial, to activism, marketing and upper management,” said Pete Abel, President / CEO of AbelCine. “Andy has a combination of knowledge and perspective that’s pretty unique and fits with the spirit of our company. We feel lucky to have his insight and influence.”

Romanoff joins another ex-Panavision wizard now at AbelCine, Moe Shore. Moe was an editor at WGBH in Boston, and then VP of Product Development and Technical Marketing at Panavision, where he worked on 3-perf, Phantom HD, advanced electronic systems and strategic alliances with other companies.

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